Recording an old song copyright questions.

Origins[edit]
According to Library of Congress editor Stephen Winick, "The Leaving of Liverpool" was first collected by Doerflinger from Maitland, whose repertoire he recorded at Sailors' Snug Harbor in Staten Island from 1938 to 1940. At the time, Doerflinger was an independent collector, recording the songs of sailors and lumbermen out of personal interest. In early 1942, Doerflinger found another version sung by a retired sailor named Patrick Tayluer, who was living at the Seamen's Church Institute at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan. This time, he borrowed equipment and blank discs from the Library of Congress with the understanding that he would deposit the recordings there.[1]

The two versions are quite different, and the singers gave different accounts of the song. Maitland said he learned "The Leaving of Liverpool" from a Liverpool man on board the General Knox around 1885.[4] His version has the narrator leave Liverpool to be a professional sailor aboard a historical clipper ship, the David Crockett, under a real-life captain, Captain Burgess. This would date his version to between 1863, when John A. Burgess first sailed the David Crockett out of Liverpool, and 1874, when Burgess died at sea. He also told Doerflinger that on his voyages it was sung as an off-watch song or "forebitter," rather than a sea shanty.[1]